Solder Party Launches the KeebDeck, a Compact Silicone Keyboard for Space-Constrained Projects

Solder Party, creator of the compact RP2040 and RP2350 Stamp microcontroller modules, has officially launched the KeebDeck, a compact keyboard designed for space-constrained projects — and a ready-to-run variant with USB connectivity, the KeebDeck Basic.

"The wait is finally over," the company said of the launch. "We're happy to announce that the KeebDeck Keyboard and our first product using it, the KeebDeck Basic, are now available for sale. The KeebDeck Keyboard is the result of years of R&D to create an affordable and widely available handheld keyboard for makers and hackers. More KeebDeck devices are in the works, but since the Keyboard is available as a component and well-documented, no need to wait for us, add it to your project now!"

The KeebDeck builds on the company's earlier work on turning surplus BlackBerry smartphone keyboards into reusable input devices, but this time Solder Party has designed and built the KeebDeck from scratch. Manufactured from silicone, much like the vintage ZX Spectrum, the 69-key alphanumeric keyboard is designed for space-constrained projects: it measures a mere 85×48mm (around 3.35×1.89").

The base model KeebDeck Keyboard comes as a two-set of the silicon keyboard itself plus an adhesive sheet of metal domes under each key. This, the company explains, is designed to sit over copper contact points on a PCB of your own design — and you can even add a pair of LEDs to provide backlighting.

For those who prefer something ready-to-use, like the BB Q10/Q20 BlackBerry keyboards, there's the KeebDeck Basic. This adds a pair of PCBs to the mix: a rear PCB with the required contact points and an STMIcro STM32F042 microcontroller plus a structural-only front PCB that locks the keyboard itself in place. In this form, the KeebDeck Basic is ready to use as a USB-connected Human Interface Device (HID) over an on-board USB Type-C connector — while there's an unpopulated Qwiic connector and I2C test points for integration into embedded projects.

Full documentation for the KeebDeck is available on the Solder Party website; both the KeebDeck and the KeebDeck Basic are listed on the company's Lectronz store at $4.39 and $8.09 respectively. Hardware design files for the KeebDeck Keyboard are published on GitHub under the CERN Open Hardware License v1.2, with the KeebDeck Basic in a separate repository.